


Diptych

by Phillammon



Category: Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)
Genre: Call this atonement for Instants, F/F, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Sharing a Bed, Slice of Life, Watching Someone Sleep, egregious use of first person, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26803822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phillammon/pseuds/Phillammon
Summary: Undine and Kokoro are getting some well-deserved rest after a long night's monster-slaying.
Relationships: Kokoro | Heartful Punch/Undine Wells | Alchemical Water
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Diptych

I watch Kokoro's chest rise and fall, my fingers lightly entangled in her hair, palm supporting her head as she rests. I trail the fingers of my other hand in idle circles over her cheek, her chin, her collarbone, eliciting a contended murmur from her in her sleep. The room returns to serene silence, but for her and my soft breathing, and the low rumbling purr of her cat curled up in a tight, warm ball between the two of us.

I don't think Bud and Harley and all the others have really noticed how tense she always is. She has an anxious energy about her, certainly, but it runs deeper than that. Her guard is always up, both in a literal sense- her fighting stance- but also emotionally. There's a wall there, sheer and solid, and she's very careful about who she allows past. She's so, so scared to let people close. Even something as simple as her name is a precious gift, a weakness not to be exposed lightly, closely guarded and shared only with the most trusted.

And she gave it to me the day after we met.

I've grown to understand her over the past few weeks, and with that I've grown to understand why. She's afraid to let people in because she doesn't want to lose people she cares about. Those hearts on her costume aren't for show. She loves passionately and deeply and fiercely, and it's hurt her unimaginably to have that torn away from her.

She really does love her father, even after this time, and it tears her up inside that they've been driven apart. He was the first, but not the last. Opening up and letting people in has hurt her time and time again. But even so, even knowing that, she's let me get close to her. In this moment, with the two of us together, her guard is entirely down. She is entirely vulnerable. She is entirely at peace.

I think it is no exaggeration to say that she wholly, unfalteringly, unassailably, loves me. 

I think she did right from the start.

I don't know if she realised it, if she wanted it, if she had any say in the matter. Her heart leads her. It always has, and I suspect it always will.

And her heart chose me.

I couldn't be any luckier.

My eyelids droop, and I quickly join her in sleep.

* * *

I wake before my alarm. Uncharacteristically early, it's still dark out. Groggily, I take inventory of my thoughts, grounding myself. I'm warm, and slightly thirsty, and now, I gradually realise, not alone in my bed.

I roll over slightly. Undine is pressed into my side, sound asleep and curled up tightly, with Kicks nestled in the gap between us. I look my girlfriend up and down as I distractedly run a hand down Kicks' spine, earning me a contented purr.

Founder. She looks so small.

She always does. She looks so small and fragile, like some beautiful glass trinket, ready to shatter into a thousand fragments at the slightest shock. But she isn't, not in the slightest.

The very first night I met her, she had just come from the funeral of her three closest friends, and I didn't realise at all. There's indescribable strength there.

If I'd had to watch everyone I love die in front of me, I wouldn't have survived the week.

But Undine. My beautiful, wonderful Undine. She took what life had given her and kept going. She survived. She found the help she needed and she carried on.

All she needed was someone to talk to who wouldn't pity her, who would treat her like a human being. Who didn't know that she was "meant to" be falling apart, and could let her pretend to be okay until she was.

I'm so lucky that she found me.

I lean forward to plant a kiss on her forehead. She doesn't stir, but smiles slightly.

I'm content to watch her sleep until morning comes.


End file.
